First Steps
by PJC
Summary: Grissom finally realises that he wants to be with Sara, and also realises he must be the one to make the first steps.But can he do it? How will he do it? And how will she react? Also, not quite sure about the ratings still, but is very, very mild. GSR.
1. Realisation

_Am making another attempt at writing as it can't really get any worse. Thanks to all the people who commented on my first story 'Microscope' I really appreciated it all. By the way apologies in advance if I get any words wrong, I live in UK but seen as GSR is in America with American phrases I may get a few words or spellings different (apologise definitely for apologise, taps/faucets ( think) and any lapses I make between pants and trousers.)_

_Anyway I own nothing (shame)_

_Thanks for reading (also don't be fooled by the first few lines the rest of story is differently, just read to end of second paragraph and you will understand)_

**Don't quite know when this is set, but I know that they are both currently working in the lab, some flirting has passed some hasn't yet, I will leave where you think it falls up to you (wheres the fun if everything is worked out for you)!**

''Griss Honey?, Can you spot the remote for the TV anywhere?'' Grissom stared as an extremely pregnant Sara Sidle waddled into his living room. She came over and placed a light kiss on his cheek then asked ''Don't look like you've never seen this bump before or me in your house, your the reason I'm like this'' He still could not make sense of what she was saying and continued to just stare at her protruding belly and her casual presence in his house. After finding the remote, she lightly tapped him on the side of the head with it, before throwing it down on the sofa and leaning in for a proper kiss.

Grissom woke with a start, and sat up in bed. His confusion at the dream still lingering. He sat up slowly rubbed his temples in a soothing clockwise motion with the tips of his index and middle fingers. After this failed to soothe him to anywhere near the state where he would be able to sleep again. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table and that he had only been asleep for a couple of hours. Groaning at the thought of having nothing to distract him from his thoughts for many hours he moved off the bed, pulled a jumper on over his pajama bottoms and old t-shirt he slept in. He quietly padded into the kitchen to make himself a coffee and resigned himself to many hours wasted in thought, chasing the same old circle it had many times before. He assumed he wouldn't come up with any more satisfactory answers than before, so he made his coffee, drank it quickly and lay down on the couch staring up at the ceiling. He tried to keep his mind blank, or on other things, but it was only a matter of time before his mind drifted, inevitably, back to Sara and his recent dreams about her. In this case he managed about 6 minutes.

His mind already having run in the familiar circles for about an hour and a half. He sat up put his head in his hands and tried taking a different approach. He had already looked at the problem of what to do between him and Sara many times, but only ever from his point of view. He had looked at it as a CSI, as a supervisor, as a friend, and simply as a man. And whichever way he looked at it, he came up with the same answer. He loved Sara and wanted her, but was unable to do anything about it, whether through fear, pain or protocol he didn't yet know. But he had never looked at it from Sara's point of view. He knew that this would probably fail, as he knew and would be the first to admit it, that he was not a people person. He found it hard to interact with and understand others. He lay back down, so he could think clearer. He was shocked to find out how remarkably simple to get into the mind of Sara it was, there had always been that connection there when they were working, but now he was convinced it was more connection than just that of two criminalists. After about 45 minutes of thinking about the problem, he knew the answer, either she wasn't attracted to him at all, or she was and was scared of hurting him and of getting hurt herself. Either way, he knew the only way that he was going to find out was to make the first move himself. Having worked this out, he checked the clock and decided to have an hours nap before getting up and heading off to work, and to Sara.

He sat there, as always, early for shift. He had managed to grab an extra nap but had still been ready well before shift and so had come in early to catch up on paperwork. His plan had seemed good, until he had got into the office and remembered he had finished it ll a few nights ago, to keep his mind off Sara. Instead he sat there with his eyes closed leaning back in his chair thinking. He knew that he had resolved to take the first step between him and Sara but he still didn't know how, when, where or how she would react. These questions crowded his mind and about all he had managed to work out was that it should either be at the end of shift or out of work altogether and that it should either be his office or at one home or another. He had just resolved in his head that the first step should be talking and not action, but had not yet worked out what to say when Catherine knocked and poked her head round the door. Grissom stood up and went the door and pulled it open. The red-head leaned against the frame and looked at her supervisor expectantly, eventually Grissom broke the silence. ''What is it Catherine?''

''I just wondered if we actually doing any work tonight or whether we were all just sitting around in the break room for the whole shift?'' He looked at her questioningly,

''Assignments Gil. You still need to hand them out.''

''Oh, right. Thanks Catherine. I'll ... be there in a second, just let me grab them.''

She strolled off toward the break room and had just sat down in the last available chair as Grissom entered notes in hand. He stopped at the door and stood transfixed, gazing at Sara. She was wearing dark blue jeans with a off-purple top with no sleeves, just thick straps resting on her shoulders. Her hair had dried in loose curls and was still slightly damp. But to him even in these simple, casual work clothes, she looked perfect. Her skin was free of make-up except for a light coat of gloss on her lips. He would have been happy just to stand there and look at her forever. This he continued to do until he heard Catherine clear her throat, pulling him back to the present. He stepped into the room and everyone noticed him and faced in his direction, waiting for him to hand out the nights assignments. He looked down at the slips of paper in his hand and handed them out to people, telling everyone what they had got without looking up. ''Nick, Warrick you two have got an apparent suicide in the desert. Catherine, arson, out in Henderson, Detective Vega will meet you there. And Sara you're with me on a murder, found dead in her car on a side-road just off the strip.'' He waited as everyone except Sara filed out of the room, collecting the appropriate slip from him as they passed. It was only after this that Grissom realised that it would be just he and Sara together. She picked up the slip he had left on the table and started out of the room waiting for him to follow. He sighed and followed her out, and tried to remember that he had decided that his first action should be to talk to her and that he had decided to do it probably at one home or the other rather than in his office as had been one of his previous intentions. He tried to keep his eye's down on the floor as he followed Sara out to the SUV. He looked up just in time to catch her playful glance, followed by her grin.

''Your turn to drive today'' She called over her shoulder as she stepped outside throwing him the keys and heading towards the passenger side of the vehicle.


	2. Meeting

_**Just to give you a heads up, i have no idea how long this is going to be when i'm finished, depends how i'm feeling when i write it, so please bear with me **_**_and I hope you are enjoying it so far_**

He sat staring straight-forward, hands gripping the steering-wheel tightly, trying to focus on the road in front of him rather than the woman at the side of him. Sara, assuming he was concentrating on the road, switched the radio on and started to hum along softly. Grissom listened content just to hear her humming along. The song ended and the next one came on. Sara turned to face him ''I haven't heard this in ages' she squealed and sang along after turning the volume up. Grissom found himself idly singing along before he registered which song it was. Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me, as he pulled up with both of them singing, they both caught each others eye and sparks flew between them, both singing to the other that they wanted the other to want, need and love them, anyone watching would have just seen two people enjoying a song and singing it together but they felt the sparks. Grissom felt them and he knew Sara did as well as she wouldn't take her eyes off him and instead her brown eyes just stared into his blue and vice versa. He subconsciously leant forward as she did, all thoughts of talking it over first gone from his head. He leant his head closer in again to kiss her. Sara instead gave him a swift peck on the cheek and almost tripped as she landed out of the SUV as she hurried to move away from the vehicle. Grissom sat there mentally scolding himself for getting carried away, he knew he needed to make the first move, but at her pace, he still needed to speak to her first anyway. He reached over and grabbed his case from behind the seat and got out of the SUV and followed Sara to the scene, mentally scolding himself all the way for been such an idiot and letting his emotions and desires getting the better of him. He entered the scene and saw Sara crouched down already photographing and bagging the evidence. He saw how frail she looked and so simply told her he would be working the perimeter if she needed him. Adding another reason to the list for hating his actions after seeing how upset and shaken Sara had seemed. He carried on working the perimeter and eventually entered the scene again to find her almost done. He simply picked up the bags she had already sealed and went to go put them in the back of the SUV along with his findings and after his second trip, he saw her coming out, composure regained, with the final few bags. Watched her putting them in the back and then climbed back into the drivers seat as she climbed into the passenger seat. They followed a very silent journey on the way back to the lab.

Near the end of the shift, as they were nearing the end of the processing they could do until Greg & Hodges had finished with the samples they had already been given by Grissom and Sara, Sara poked her head round the door to his office and told him that Hodges had finished with the oil found on the knife and had got the results back, before hurrying off, presumably in search of Hodges. Grissom sighed and heaved himself up to go find Hodges as well. After they had been told that the oil was actually grape seed oil and had left them in the lab while he went off for a well-earned break because even though it was almost end of shift, Hodges was pulling a double to help out the Swing shift and so he left Sara and Grissom alone in the lab. Before she could walk off Grissom took hold of her elbow so that she turned back to face him.

''Sara''he started and sighed before continuing, ''we need to talk. Can I call round to your place after shift?''

''No Grissom, I'm sorry but the answer is no.''

''Well then would you be willing to drop in at mine instead, 'cos we do really need to talk.'' He looked up his eyes pleading her to agree. She nodded, ''But, you have to give me 10 minutes to go get changed and freshen up first.''

''Deal.'' He smiled at her before letting go of her arm so that she could continue to wherever she was headed.

At the end of shift, Grissom dashed home and tidied up all the remains from the evening before, before he had gone into work. The rest of his town house was tidy as soon as the washing and drying was done. For which he was profoundly grateful as the doorbell went just as he was hanging up the dishcloth he had been drying with. He opened the door and smiled as he saw Sara standing there, but soon schooled his expression when she glanced up nervously at him. She had done as she had said in the fact that she had got changed, and it took all of Grissoms strength not to lean in, kiss her and tell her how beautiful she was. Instead he stepped back to allow her to enter and offered her a drink. From the safe refuge of his kitchen, looking over the breakfast bar into the living room, he stared openly at her. She had changed into a long black flowing skirt, with a simple white short-sleeved T-shirt above, with just a plain black cardi thrown over her arm as she sat down on the sofa and waited for Grissom to arrive with the drinks. He entered the living room, handed her coffee to her, and sat down on the chair opposite. Neither of the spoke for a while, until Sara finally broke the silence.


	3. Talking

''Grissom ... you asked me to come here and you said we needed to talk. And then all the talking you've done is to ask me do I want a drink. What did you need to talk about?'' Grissom deflected this question with one of his own, to which Sara sighed, knowing she wasn't getting her answer yet.

''Sara, why did you agree to meet me here? If you were happy to meet with me then why not let me meet you at your house, but then agree on coming to mine?''

''Because, if we disagree about something, or ague then I don't want to feel a prisoner in my own house, this way I can leave and return to mine without feeling evicted from my own house''

''Why did you feel we would be arguing though? What gave you the impression I was annoyed at you?''

''Just you, grissom!'' she exclaimed, ''About a month ago we were so close, and then suddenly you start acting awkwardly around me and virtually ignoring me. Then today you almost kiss me and then say nothing even when we got back to the lab, then you invite me round to yours to talk, and then you say nothing. It's just a little ... confusing.'' He reached out from where he was sat to take her hand and looked into her eyes.

''I never meant to hurt you Sara, or to confuse you. I just didn't know how to act around you anymore. Things had altered'' She looked questioningly up at him. ''I can't really explain how they altered'' he continued, ''not to you, at least not yet.''

''See Grissom this is exactly what I mean you tell me you need to talk, and then when you do talk to refuse to tell me all the details. Either tell me the whole story or I'm going home.'' When Grissom didn't answer she pulled her hand out of his, grabbed her purse and walked out of the house towards her car. Grissom sighed, still not moving, his hand still held out where he had been holding Sara's. He turned to stare at his hand, it was still tinging where he hand had been, and on his fingers where her's had brushed his as she pulled her hands away. After a few minutes he got up to go put the mugs in the kitchen when Sara walked back into the house. He stared and for a second thought he must have fallen asleep and was having another dream, until he noticed the annoyed expression on her face. ''Can I use your phone? My car's not working and my cells run out of battery.'' She asked quietly without looking at him. Grissom almost fell over himself in his rush to help, he rushed about finding her the phone and the phone book. After she had phoned the car company, (agreeing that her car would be picked up for repairs asap, although it would still probably be about 2 hours seen as she wasn't in desperate need of assistance) she huffed and turned to face Grissom, hands on hips and stated, ''Right, I'm here for probably another 2 hours, I can't stand outside for 2 hours in this weather. So .. Spill!'' Grissom gaped at her until she told him to shut his mouth and carry to start talking.

''Well, what do you want to know?''

''OK, start with either why you asked me to come here in the first place, or what altered a month ago. It's up to you which one you choose.''

''Sara...'' He started before sitting down on the sofa and asking her to sit down as well, which she did. ''I don't know what to do, about this, about us. All I could work out was that I needed to make the first move, I justs didn't know what the first move should be and how you would react. That's why I asked you to come here so I could talk to you, I wanted to discuss what you wanted and then I might have known what to do more.''

''Grissom, you've made it perfectly clear in the past that there IS no US. I don't want to force you into doing something you don't want to do. I've managed long enough without you having return feelings for me, I can carry on the same way as before.'' Grissom felt a pull at his chest as he realised how much he had hurt Sara in the past. He vowed to himself that he would make it right, and treat her right from now on, if she would let him. He longed to reach out to her and just take her hand, or to lay his hand on her cheek and look at her and stare into her eyes. He mentally shook himself to clear his head, if he wanted to treat her right than he needed to first answer her questions so that she was happy. Instead he looked back at her and asked,

''Do you want there to be an us?'' She didn't answer just sighed and looked away. ''Sara, if your willing I would like to make an us, if your willing I would like to take you out later, to dinner or a movie or whatever you want.''

''Grissom, I can't ask you to do that, I know you don't really have any feelings for me, I would rather be alone than to see what I could have and to have you take it all away again, when you find someone you do like and go offer her that life instead. I'm used to loneliness, I know how to deal with that.

''Sara ...'' He sighed, not knowing what to say to make her believe that he truly did like her, and that it wasn't just a passing thing which he would leave without a second thought or a moment's notice.

Sara turned her head to look at Grissom and to ask what he was trying to say, but her question was captured by Grissoms kiss.


	4. Confession

Grissom pulled back to see Sara, unfocused touching her lips with her fingers. His own lips were tingling, just from brushing past Sara's, it wasn't even a proper kiss but he still could feel his heart racing. He looked back at Sara, to see her looking at him, a half-smile curving her lips. He leant in to kiss her again, as his lips made contact he felt her lips parting , assuming she was attempting to deepen the kiss, he was about to respond, when he felt her hands on his shoulders, pushing him away. ''You bastard!'' she screamed. Grissom opened his mouth to reply but she carried on shouting at him so that he didn't get a chance.

''What on earth did you do that for? Did you think it would stop me answering you? Was it just to get you out of an awkward conversation? Or do you just enjoy confusing me?''

''Sara'' he began.

''Oh No, it's too late for words now Grissom, you just made that very clear'' She looked at his shocked expression, and calming a little, she said evenly, but with very little emotion. ''Goodbye Grissom, I'll go get a coffee while I'm waiting for the repair company. Thank You for your hospitality. I will see you in work tomorrow evening.''

Grissom watched her retreating figure and ran a hand through his curls. Still staring after the figure, (who had now reached the drive and was walking down the road) he gently touched his lips, both his hand and lips still tingling from her touch. _I need to get more sleep_, he decided before going into his bedroom and collapsing on the sheets.

Him and Sara were strolling arm-in-arm in the park. He sat on a bench and pulled Sara to sit on his knee and loosely wrapped his arms around her waist while hers rested on his shoulders as they kissed and then just sat there holding each other on the bench afterwards just people watching.

Grissom woke up slowly, immensely glad that this dream had not wakened him suddenly but slightly embarrassed about having to work with Sara on their case at work after having dreamed about kissing her. As the last of the dream slipped away into nothing but his memory he became aware of an ache in his chest. He realised it was because he had now lost what traces of Sara he had still been clinging to. Sighing again it occurred to him that he had sighed more in the last 2 days than he had before in all hid life, and that everyone single one had been over Sara. Musing over these thoughts he went into the bathroom to have a quick shower and brush his teeth before heading into work that day.

He and Sara carried on working their case in silence for the rest of that shift, with barely any talking involved, and she hurried off the instant work ended. Grissom wandered over to the break room to grab a coffee before processing all the paperwork which had undoubtedly collected in his office within the last 24 hours. He half expected to see Sara waiting in his office as he opened the door, but was disappointed to find it empty.

After filing the last paper away to be looked over later, by the day supervisor, he switched off the light to his office intending to head back home and try to catch a few hours sleep. As he stepped out out of his office, he almost slipped after standing on some paper left on the floor. He picked it up intending to put it in the bin at the exit until he caught the word Grissom at the top. He pocketed it to read when he got home, thinking if it was to do with work it could wait until the morning. When he got home he poured himself a juice from the fridge and dug the note out of his pocket and read, he re-read it and ran out of the door, ran down to his car, opened the door to it and drove away. He had spilled the juice over the counter in his hurry to get out, along with the note, slowly soaking up the orange juice from the bottom right-hand corner outwards, making the words go fuzzy until anyone would only just have been able to make out the original message; Grissom, we still need to talk, call me when you get this, Sara.

Grissom was sat in the car outside Sara's apartment debating his plan. After reading the note he had hurried over to Sara's building. He then realised as he pulled up, that the day before she had said that she didn't really want him in her apartment in case anything had happened (which he reminded himself had) and that the note had also asked him to call her not to call around to her apartment. _Besides _he told himself _she might be asleep_. He glanced up at her window to see if the light was on and saw her figure, a figure he would have recognised anywhere, silhouetted against the light holding what looked like a phone in her hands._ Well_, he thought, _She's clearly not asleep, and is still waiting for me to call her. _Emboldened by the fact that she had waited up for his call, he started climbing the flight of stairs which led to her floor. Stood outside he quickly ran a hand through his hair and straightened his clothes, thinking he should at least make an attempt at appearing presentable. He knocked on the door, it opened to reveal the figure he had seen through the window a few minutes ago,with an annoyed expression on her face.

Exasperated she sighed and asked grissom, ''Is this what you call, calling me as soon as you get out of work?''

''Can I come in?'' She stood back to let him walk into her apartment,

''I have the right to kick you out at anytime'' she stated to which he nodded and sat down, she carried on.

''Grissom, you can't just go around kissing people, and then randomly calling round at their house when they asked or invited you to do neither'' she said as she sat down on the sofa next to him. Grissom nodded and quietly muttered ''I know'' trying to keep his mind off how close they were sat, and how similar this was to how they ha sat the last time they had spoken, when he had kissed her, and mostly tried not to think what it would be like to kiss her again now, although preferably without the shouting afterwards. She seemed to be remembering that time as well as her cheeks went slightly pink and she glanced away. Grissom broke the slightly awkward silence.

''I'm sorry for yesterday, I didn't mean to scare, upset or confuse you. It's just that its only recently I have started to realise the strength of my feelings for you, and I foolishly assumed that you felt the same or at least similar.''

''It wasn't a foolish assumption, you know I do like you, you just shocked me and I thought that it was just a passing fancy rather than any deep feelings.''

''Sara, I've always liked you, you're not a passing fancy it's just that its only recently I've started to realise how much I like you.''

She looked at him questioningly and he haltingly revealed the dreams to her and how long he had been having them, but forcefully pointing out that they had never been sexual, just loving and that the most intimate they had been, had been in the last. He carried on by saying, ''I'm sorry, I should have come to you before to explain, but I didn't know what to say or how to act, and I didn't want to push you away further. Which I now realise in my attempt to not push you away, I just managed to push you away further. I'm sorry for any pain I put you through, more sorry than you could imagine.''

This time it was Grissoms reply that was captured by Sara's kiss.


	5. Agreement

**Sorry its all starting to get a bit cliche but 1) i am getting tired, is late and 2) cliches are still good with the right characters**

Ecstatic and shocked at the kiss grissom took a moment to respond as she pulled away. It hadn't been a powerful or even a proper kiss, just a quick brush of the lips, but it was still electric. ''Well'', he said ''that clears a few things up.'' Sara quietly laughed and they both simultaneously leant towards each other, both eager to exchange another, but stronger, kiss.

This time when Sara's lips parted, Grissom hesitated for a fraction of a second unless it was a repeat of the night before, when after a moment she didn't pull back he willingly followed suit. He then leaned back onto the sofa pulling Sara with him so that their lips never parted for a second. After there need for oxygen overcame their need for each other they pulled away, and Sara leaned her head her head down onto Grissoms chest. He lightly kissed the top of her head breathing in the smell of her hair.

They both lay there until they heard the alarm go off neither of them realising that they had fallen asleep in the first place, Sara woke first and reached out to her cell to turn the alarm off. She was sill laying in Grissoms arms on her sofa. She raised her head but stayed not moving where she lay, reluctant to leave the warmth, comfort and safety of his arms. She stayed there just staring at his face, noticing how much younger he looked in sleep. She slowly, so as not to disturb him, reached up a hand and twirled it round her finger.

Grissom slowly moved his head towards her hand, which she then moved to place on his cheek, his hand reached up, eyes still closed, took hold of her hand and kissed her palm. Then finally opening his blue eyes he stared into Sara's brown ones and a small smile crept over his face.

''Good Morning'' he whispered, not wanting to loose the moment.

''Do you want some coffee?''

''Mmmm, coffee would be good, just staying here holding you all day would be better''

''Well that isn't an option, come on we need to get up, you might need to go home and get changed anyway.'' She said leaning down to place a small kiss on his lips before standing up to go get the coffee started.

_Well, _Grissom thought,_ after all my dreams, the real thing still turned out to be better. We still need to talk though, this time just about how to behave in the lab, assuming she still wants us to be together._

A ripple of cold ran through him at the thought that while she might have been happy to b with him last night, she might have changed her mind this morning, he reminded himself that he ha promised to take the first step and allow Sara to choose how much further they carried on and whether they dated and became a couple or not. He couldn't help but still feel worried that the chance he had finally taken might have just ended up hurting him more.

He stood up and padded into the kitchen to find Sara. He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her close. She relaxed in his arms and turned round to face him. She looked into his face and saw the worried expression there before reaching her arms round him to embrace him. He held her close, breathing in her smell and imprinting every detail on his memory in case this was the end.

''Sara'' he whispered into her ear, '' What do you want to do? Next step is up to you''

''Well, firstly having coffee and then having a coffee sounds good to me'' He smiled at her teasing,

''Come on, you know what I mean. Do you want us to carry on seeing each other?''

''Why don't you ask me after you've taken me to dinner after work?''

''Sounds like a good plan to me'' He breathed out in relief, gave her a quick squeeze, then took the cup of coffee she had just finished preparing before he entered the kitchen, took a sip and wandered back into living room to put his shoes back on.

They stood at the door both leaning against the door frame facing each other. Grissom smiled and then asked her ''Sara, do you want to tell the guys at the lab or just keep it between us for now? And after we get off shift and sorted shall I call round here, a couple of hours later? To pick you up? We should just be in time for lunch then, unless you will be too tired''

''Let's hold off telling the guys for now'' He nodded in reply, '' And an hour later sounds perfect, where are we going anyway?''

''You will just have to wait and see,'' he stated reaching out to stroke her cheek with the back of his hands, she moved her face closer to his hand as he stroked her cheek. ''But dress up nice, and try not to let shift run over, because I will make some reservations for, shall we say 1 o'clock?''

''Sounds good, see you at work, and remember to behave in front of everyone.'' He pouted slightly before grinning at her, giving her a half-wave and wandering off to his car.

On his way down, he could feel his heart almost trying to beat its way out of his chest, he hadn't thought it possible to be so happy just at someone else's smile, at an agreement to see them later. He practically danced to the car as he got in to head home to get ready for work. Even thinking about work he was happy knowing that she would be there and that they would be working on the same case together all day. Just the thought of standing near her and watching her made his heart jump.

He couldn't stop thinking of things he had seen or heard which she would like, which restaurant to book for the following day, where else she would like to go if she agreed to go out with him again. Whether any of his recent dreams could actually come true.


	6. At Work

He walked into work, his heart still happy at the thought of working side-by-side with Sara all day. Even though they would probably have it cracked half-way through the shift there was still all the paper-work to do which they could do sat next to each other in the break room.

His first stop was to the locker room to hang up his jacket, he next went into his office to see how much paperwork had accumulated while he had been gone. Picked up the surprisingly light amount of paper work ad headed off to the break room to get as much done as he could before shift began so that he could be off quickly at the end to prepare for his date with Sara. He had already rung the restaurant and made the reservations and reminded himself to remind Sara to dress up for their date.

He was just pouring himself a coffee before dealing with the papers when he spotted a figure, asleep on the break room couch. He walked over and pulled Sara's hair off of her forehead before, after glancing around to see they were alone, leaning down to kiss her forehead and whisper to her, ''Time to wake up now sweetie.'' Her eyes focused as she was waking up and as she focused on Grissom's face she smiled before sitting up, asking what time it was and who else was here. He simply replied by saying it was still 30 minutes before shift and so the rest of the guys would probably arrive in about 15 minutes and asking why she was here so early.

''Well, your always in early, and I just realised that I didn't know what to wear tomorrow so thought I would come in and ask''

''How long have you been here?'' He asked, taking her in his arms after sitting on the couch and leaned back.

''Only about 10 minutes, I guess we didn't get as much sleep as we needed last night''

He chuckled kissed her temple and then stood up pulling her with him and poured her a cup of coffee as she sat down. He then settled down to try and get his paperwork done. When he had struggled through a few sheets he quietly chuckled to himself and replied to her questioning glance by saying ''You said you came in early to find out what to wear, and I never told you. ... Quite formal by the way'' He added after he had turned his head down to face his work again.

He listened to her get up and wander off, probably to brush her hair again in the locker room now that she had finished her coffee. As he had predicted the rest of the crew began to drift in within the next 10 minutes starting with Catherine arriving as Sara came back in, followed by Warrick and finally Nick. Grissom shut the second-to-last file he had to fill in, pleased with the amount of work he had got done. He then addressed his team about the cases they were currently following.

''Nick, Warrick, Whats the deal on your apparent suicide case, any breaks yet?''

''Doc. Robbins confirmed murder, we're still looking at the husband but under the evidence we got he should crack soon.''

''Catherine? Your arson?''

No where near done yet, Hodges is still identifying the accelerant, DNA from Greg turned up nothing, sample was too degraded due to the heat. Still sorting through the rest trying to work out what's relevant and what isn't, Family aren't saying anything but Vega and I are off to go interview the neighbours today. So still no idea how long it should take.''

''OK,if Nicky and Warricks case does close today use one of them to help you.'' He addressed them all together instead of individually now, ''Sara and I are still working on our murder, but is near closing. Right ... So ... You all know what your doing, lets go solve some crime.''

And with that all his team stood up and walked out of the room, except Sara who stood waiting for him in the doorway. Saying, ''I'll go get the DNA results from Greg while you go get the trace results from Hodges if you want, and then I'll see you in you in your office to talk it over, Catherine is using the evidence room.'' He nodded his understanding and headed off to find Hodges while she went to go find Greg. 5 minutes later they met up again in his office, arriving there at the same time. He opened the door and gestured for Sara to enter, before entering himself and shutting the door behind him. He turned to find Sara already sat at the chair on the opposite side of the desk to his, he sat down in his chair.

After debating the case for 5 minutes, they heard a knock on the door, and relief rushed through Grissom that they had not arrived a few minutes later. As they had just closed the case and he had been about to go over and kiss her, he also felt annoyance at them not coming later so that he would have had time to kiss her.

''Come in. Heya Catherine, whats up?''

''I was just wondering if I could have a word?''

''Sure, Sara why don't you go see if you can round up Brass, run the evidence by him and tell him to go make the arrest, I'll meet you in the interview room when he gets here.'' She nodded and headed out of the door saying bye to Grissom and Catherine on the way out.

Grissom saw from Catherine's face that this was not going to be an easy conversation, that she had come to get information out of him, not because of a problem with the evidence. She sat down on the chair Sara had just vacated.

''Alright Catherine, what are you after?'' He said in a tired voice, she replied with a voice equally as determined as his was tired.

''Shows over Grissom, fess up!''


	7. Catherine, Suspect and Meeting

_Yes the restaurant listed below is real, is located off the strip in the Northeast in Henderson, is vegetarian and generally requires reservation, not bad for a person who had never been to America, eh?_

* * *

''Fess up to what Catherine?''

''OH, come on! I'm a CSI Griss, you can't except me to fall for that. I've been watching you all day and you've hardly stopped grinning. Oh sure you've tried to hide it, but after the amount of time i've known you I can tell when your trying to keep something hidden. So, spill, whats going on?'' He took off his glasses and slowly wiped the lenses and replaced them before answering Catherine's question.

_'Alright Catherine, I'll play your game, but you are NOT going to find out about Sara. I know you just as well as you know me.' _he thought.

''Yes Catherine, I have been happy today, but how do you know its not just over a new delivery of an insect or new racing roach.''

''Because Grissom, you would have been gloating about it all day, and also because you have a race in a month, and you are not going to buy a new one when you are still training your current ones.''

''OK, Well Done Catherine, you guessed right, now that you have finished here, I have to go interview a suspect'' She sat there feeling slightly smug at getting the better of Grissom for about 3 seconds before realising that it was her who had been got the better off. By this time Grissom was already heading down the corridor. ''You can run, but i'll find you again later, you WILL tell me at some point.'' She sighed when he just turned round and smiled and then headed off to see if Vega had arrived yet to go interview the neighbours.

The interview went pretty standard, the suspect confessed almost immediately which was a slight shock to both Grissom and Sara, as well as to Brass. Between that and CSI's and lab techs walking into the break room as they did their paperwork and fear of going back to the office in case Catherine could corner them there. Grissom and Sara never got a chance to speak to each other properly, not even to confirm their date later that afternoon. Eventually the first chance they got was out in the CSI car park where no actions could be taken for fear of someone seeing. Grissom confirmed the time he was picking her up and then they headed off their separate ways.

Grissom arrived promptly at Sara's apartment at 12:50, 10 minutes before he was due, sure that she would be ready early. He straightened his tie and smoothed down any creases in his shirt and pants, climbed up the stairs and knocked on the appropriate door, waited and was shocked and could only stare at the vision which greeted him through the door.

Sara was wearing a blue silk dress with a circular neckline, Whig cut down into a V-neck line, held there by a broach, floor length, with panels showing slightly coming down from her hips, with a small strip underneath the top part of the dress. She finished off the look by allowing her curls to go untamed, falling softly around her face, a gold necklace, and a silver beaded bag.

Seeing Grissom staring at her she self-consciously touched her hair and tried to straighten invisible creases in her dress. ''Well, you said I needed to dress up.'' He leaned in and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek and whispered softly into her ear, ''You look beautiful.'' Leaning back to stand up straight he asked ''Ready?'' She nodded so he offered her his arm which she took, and escorted her down to the waiting car. He then drove them to Gaetano's Ristorante, a small Italian in Henderson.

''I hope you like it, I know it serves vegetarian options, as far as I could tell there were quite a few options you could have.'' He started saying nervously after they had been shown to their reserved table and sat down. He looked up to see Sara, eyes wet with unshed tears looking at him. She reached across the table and took his hand, ''I Love It'' she said quietly. Grissom turned his hand over to take hold of hers properly and gently rubbed his thumb up and down over her soft skin. He felt like his heart would burst. He hadn't realised he could be so happy just to be sat across the table from someone. He suddenly knew that Sara was the person he had been waiting his life before, he had never believed in one perfect person for everyone, but now he did, and he knew that he had found his, he just hoped that she felt the same.


	8. The End

They spent the rest of the dinner, happily discussing various things, new investigative techniques, the standard of the film, their best memories, both happy just to be in each others company, eventually, near the end of their desert of their desert, the topic turned to their hopes and dreams for the future. Grissom was the one who started the discussion.

''So go on then, I now know some of your memories, all the good parts of your past. But I don't know yet about your future, what do you want for your future? What are your hopes?, What are your dreams?''

''Well, I'd like to be able to buy y own house at some point, move up in work at some point and find something to occupy me really, something to take up my time when I'm outside of work. Don't get me wrong I'm not after marriage or children or anything right now. I just need something to take up my time out of work. I thought about taking up dancing, maybe ballroom. But what about you? What are your hopes and dream?''

''I want to find a job where I can just work on the actual CSI part instead of the paperwork section, I want to ride on a roller-coaster in every continent where it's possible, re-read Moby Dick, go back to the rainforest, ''he paused and looked her directly in the eye, ''and be the something for you to spend your time out of work with, be the something that distracts you from work. And I'd like you to be the one who I spend every moment thinking about, the one I take my time trying to please and the one who take up all MY time out of work... If you'll let me''

He saw the slightly overwhelmed look in her eye and started trying to find his way out of the hole he thought he had dug himself into. ''I mean only if you want to, and I don't mean right now, obviously I mean, we'll take things at your pace, and I don't want to force you into anything you don't want to do, and'' He was interrupted by Sara reaching her hand across the table and taking his hand in hers. ''Yes, I will, if things work out well I mean, but yes, I'll let you be my distraction and I'll be yours, if thats still OK?''

''Always'', he replied, taking her hand up to his face and kissing her palm.

''You wanna get out of here?'' She asked after they had finished their pudding and payed the cheque in silence, just staring at each other. ''Yeah, go on then.''

He took her hand as he walked her to his car. They drove the rest, still not talking, Sara watching Grissom, with her hand on his knee. Just to maintain contact more than anything else. He pulled up outside, went to open the car door and escort her to her apartment door. He kissed her on the cheek and turned to walk away, back to his SUV. ''Do you want to come in for a coffee or anything?'' He turned and headed back to her door and let that be his answer as he walked in and settled himself on the sofa. She came and sat next to him, both of them completely forgetting about the coffee she had promised him.

He reached out and twirled his fingers around a lock of hair, trailing over her face and locked eyes with her as he tucked the piece of hair behind her ear. He leant forward, and placed a hand palm-down on her cheek and slowly rubbed his thumb over her cheek bone. She slowly closed her eyes, relishing in his touch. He carried on leaning in and slowly started to kiss her, she almost pulled back for a second, shocked by the tenderness of his kiss. She slowly returned his kiss, pulling him up from the couch as she did so. Still not breaking the kiss, she took both hi hands and pulled him towards her bedroom.

**The End**

_Even though we know that stories like this never truly end, but just to finish it off better in your minds, they both became the people who took up the others life outside of work, eventually did get married, and who knows about the kids? We will just have to wait and see, they may make an appearance later and they may not. And yes, Catherine did get the truth out of him, long before anyone else, but it still took her just over 2 full weeks. Brass then cracked it about a month later, but they managed to keep it from the rest until about a week before their engagement, when they wanted to gage their reactions before the official engagement. But yes, Catherine was the first to find out. Sara also learnt ASL (sign language) and currently gets on very well with Grissom's mother._

Hope you enjoyed it, my first proper fic, as in longer one

please R&R if you haven't already and thanks to the ones who already have, your comments mean a lot, especially all the encouragement you have given me, it means a lot to me both personally and as an aspiring writer. You might want to be careful though, too much encouragement and it might persuade me to write another and inflict that upon you as well.

Also just to clear things up, yes the restaurant was real - no advertisement intended - it can be found at both main outfits of Sara's which were described were not done justice by my explanation and as I lack imagination when it comes to clothing I took inspiration from these images (btw the dress is gorgeous so would suggest checking out at least that image.


End file.
